Howdy!!

So since Palm Beach we have trying to do the rest of the touristy things around Sydney.

We're still working though not for much longer, Sheens found some nice people from work she could go to the pub with so has been out with them a couple of times after work on a Friday. It's always nice to know that you have someone to b**** with about work!!

So the major news we have is that we got the other four people living with us evicted. We were having some problems with them in the sense that they were very unaccommodating about the times we all had to work and were very very noisy until 6am. This had been going on for a long time and then Thursday 12th Feb we had had enough Shenel got up at 2am and asked people to be quiet, Seems got up at 3.30am and then finally Sheens had to get up at 5.45am and shout at everyone to shut the hell up, Sheens and Shenel get up for work between 6.30 and 7am so they went the whole night with no sleep and then had to go to work. So after that we sent a letter to our letting agent and complained about them as we had previously tried to ask them to be a little courteous on work nights, we really didn't care about weekends just when we had to work the next day. Well a few days went by and by the following Thursday 19th we were at home eating dinner when Roxanne came to us with a letter and asked us what it was about, she is French and her English was very bad. This letter was from the agency stating that they had broken their contract and had a week to move out. We were so happy that something was done about the complaint, we are not party poopers but it had been 6 weeks with at least 3 nights a week of constant noise!! So that Friday we went out for celebratory drink, a couple of people from Sheens work joined us too.

On the 21st Feb we had tickets for a Captain Cook cruise; it took us all around the harbour and up to a few other islands. We were rather glad we didn't pay for that at full price, we got it in a package with the Sky Tower, Wildlife Centre and Aquarium, it was just a bit bland and we had pretty much seen everywhere it took us. Though saying that it's always nice to go for a boat ride around the harbour. We then decided to treat ourselves to a Belgian waffle from the Lindt café in Darling Harbour. Let's just say it was yummy.

The rest of the week went by with a lot of tension in the house and the four people acting like children, finally the day came and Tommy and Natasha moved out on the 26th and then the Frenchies moved out on 27th we then had a lovely weekend of piece and quiet!!

Sheens had decided that since the house was going to be quiet and we had time to clean it she was going to have Emer round for dinner so on the 27th. A lovely dinner of wine, enchiladas and Sara Lee cake was consumed. mmmmmmmm.

That weekend was lovely weather so we decided to do the Coogee to Bondi walk, they are two beaches and the walk is right along the coast and goes past about 7 other beaches. It was about 8km and took us about 2 hours with us stopping for photos and ice cream!!

On the 4th March the three of us went for a really nice Indian dinner about ten minutes away, it was just like being at home! We came back to find we had two new housemates, Mark and Arthur, they are both from Northern Ireland and are here for a while, we were very happy that these guys speak English but Seems has a bit of difficulty in understanding their accents!! It's actually like they're speaking a foreign language sometimes.

On the 6th Sheens was able to get a couple of complimentary tickets for the outdoor cinema, the film that night was "Four Holiday's" but in the UK I think it was called "Four Christmas's" it was in Centennial Park which isn't too far from where Seems works. We were able to take food and drink, and hire bean bags. The night was lovely it wasn't too cold and the atmosphere was great. We didn't have a late night though as we were heading up to the Blue Mountains the next day.

So the next morning we set our alarms for 6am as the journey to the Blue Mountains was a two hour train ride. So we heard our alarm go off and then heard the front door go, Mark and Arthur were coming in from their night out!! Typical Irish hey.

We got ready travelled to Central station and napped for part of the journey. We arrived in Katoomba at about 9.30am and headed for the tourist information centre, we then bought our weekend bus ticket which also had a trip to the Jenolan caves and trips on the cable car and steepest railway.

We then went to check in at our hostel and then went for a potter around the small town of Katoomba, we then made our way to a coach stop where we were getting on another coach to the Jenolan caves, they were about 2 hours from Katoomba. We had a lovely coach driver who gave us a running commentary of where we were going, we stopped for some lunch and then were ready for our tour. We went into the Lucas cave which was one of the biggest there; the tour group was quite big so we tried to stay away from all the screaming kids!! The caves were made of limestone and were beautiful; we even had a light show put on in two places. The walk around lasted two hours and on our departure we saw a black snake running away from all the people and then a wedding party entering the caves, apparently they are a hot spot for marriage ceremonies costing about £200 bargain!!

That evening there was a BBQ in the hostel we were staying in so thought we would have a traditional aussie BBQ!! The food was lovely.

The next day we were up early and headed for the hop on hop off bus, our first stop was a cable car, but the visibility was very poor, there was mist and fog everywhere so the view was a bit pants. The next stop was at the world's steepest train, that took us deep into the mountains where mining used to happen so we followed the path along the ended up at another cable car which then took us back to the bus stop. We were leaving that day so had to pack everything in, there was a chocolate shop and obviously had to be visited so we did that before we were going to start our hikes!!

Lucky for us the bus drivers were very helpful and suggested which walks we should do and where we would get the best views. So we took their advice and did about three walks past the famous three sisters rock formation and then through the rainforest and bush and past some beautiful waterfalls!! We walked a fair amount and the walks were not flat, lots of stairs going up and not so many going down!! It was worth it, but lets just say doing little hikes like that is not recommended whilst wearing converse L Seems' feet hurt a bit during the day. However we didn't stop a much as we thought we would have to.

After all the walking we headed for a little village called Leura which was one stop before Katoomba and had a wonder around, it had a Christmas shop open all year round which was a bit weird and probably didn't get much business at this time of year!!

We then thought it was time we made our way back to the city as it had been along weekend and both had to work on Monday. So we got back to our hostel to pick up our bag to find out that the owner was out and the girl looking after the place did not have a key to the office where our bag was locked away. There was meant to be another girl there who had it but she had disappeared into thin air, and the annoying thing was that there was one train an hour that went back to Sydney so we were stuck in the quietest town on a Sunday evening where nothing was open!! Finally the wonderer returned so we picked up our bag and left for the train station.

This week we haven't really done much, last night we went out for drinks with two girls who we met in our hostel in the Blue Mountains, they are near the end of their Australia part of their trip so had lots of tips and advice for us. We need to start getting organised and sorting through all of our stuff to decide what we won't need anymore and send it home like all of the work clothes we brought with us. It's weird to think that we've only got three weeks left here before we start our travels, though we are both more than ready to start that part of the trip now.

Our plans so far for the rest of our trip is to go to Tasmania for a week and rent a car there seeing some national parks and enjoying the visit to the Cadbury's factory. We'll then be travelling up the coast on a greyhound bus stopping wherever we like, so Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane the Gold Coast and then all the way up to Cairns. We have also booked some tours which include accommodation and food for a sailing trip around the Whitsundays, a self drive trip with about 6-8 other people on Fraser Island where we will be camping out as well. A canoeing trip in Noosa, a bungee jump and skydive on Mission Beach near Cairns, white water rafting on the Tulley River. A tour from Cairns to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and then down to Alice Springs, and the another one from there to Adelaide. Once we're in Adelaide we want to rent a car and drive it back through Melbourne (where we will definitely be doing the neighbours tour!!) and then back to Sydney where we leave for New Zealand. We haven't really got anything sorted for NZ yet except our bus ticket around both islands; it's called the Magic bus and is pretty much like the Greyhound. We want to go skiing there as well, so we're just trying to find out the best places to go.

Well yeh.. that's it for now. I'm sure when we hit the road we'll write again.